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A stunning debut novel about war and loss, male friendship and the power of home.

'It never stops being a page-turner . . . a great debut' Colum McCann'A terrific debut novel, bold and wise, each page lit with wit and with feeling' Jonathan Lee'The funniest sad book I've read in a long time . . . A terrific debut from a dynamic new writer' J. Robert Lennon

Tom, Karl and Baz grew up together in down-on-its-luck Dublin. Friends since childhood, their lives diverged when Tom left home to be a war correspondent. Now, after three years embedded in the Siege of Sarajevo, he returns a haunted shell of the lad who went away.

Karl and Baz have no idea what they're doing but they are determined to see him through the darkness, even if it means travelling halfway around the world. Hearing about an unlikely cure - an experimental clinic called Restless Souls - they embark on a road trip across California.

But as they try to save Tom from his memories, they must confront their own - of what happened to their childhood friend Gabriel. And in doing so, they must ask how their boisterous teenage souls became weighed down, and why life got so damn complicated and sad.

Praise for Restless Souls

RESTLESS SOULS is a hilariously shambolic road trip, a moving, freaked out, at times bruisingly mordant examination of the purgatorial agonies of PTSD, and above all a bawdy, alive, profane panegyric to the indissoluble bonds of friendship - Colin Barrett, author of YOUNG SKINS, Winner of the Guardian First Book Award

RESTLESS SOULS is a terrific debut novel, bold and wise, each page lit with wit and with feeling. In his examination of friendship, Ireland, and a distant Sarajevo under siege, Dan Sheehan marks himself out as a writer to watch - Jonathan Lee, author of HIGH DIVE

RESTLESS SOULS is a hilariously shambolic road trip, a moving, freaked out, at times bruisingly mordant examination of the purgatorial agonies of PTSD, and above all a bawdy, alive, profane panegyric to the indissoluble bonds of friendship - Colin Barrett, author of YOUNG SKINS, Winner of the Guardian First Book Award

One part war story, one part bro story, and one part road trip, RESTLESS SOULS is a wonderful debut by a talented, intelligent writer who knows how to make you think and make you feel and make you laugh. I devoured it

At turns comedic, at turns literary, at turns thriller, at turns philosophical, RESTLESS SOULS never stops being a page-turner. Mixing humour with its attendant darkness, Sheehan postulates that we all must eventually face our own history. Ultimately this is a road journey into memory.This is a great debut, reminiscent of Colin Barrett, Sara Baume, Rob Doyle, Claire Louise Bennett and a whole new generation of Irish writers.

RESTLESS SOULS is a terrific debut novel, bold and wise, each page lit with wit and with feeling. In his examination of friendship, Ireland, and a distant Sarajevo under siege, Dan Sheehan marks himself out as a writer to watch - Jonathan Lee, author of HIGH DIVE

Restless Souls is the funniest sad book I've read in a long time, and a first novel of amazing complexi

A tragedy, comedy, road-trip novel due out in February that is already garnering very high praise. War correspondent Tom returns to Dublin and he and his friends reconnect and wonder when their lives became so complicated and sad. - Sunday Canberra Times

It's a dark comedy about young men grappling with the aftermath of tragedy, memories and friendship. - Manly Daily

Vivid, funny and emotionally intelligent, Sheehan's exploration of male friendship yokes extremes of human behaviour into a labile, and page-turning, tragicomedy. - The Saturday Age

Dan Sheehan

Dan Sheehan received his MFA from University College Dublin. His writing has appeared in the Irish Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Guernica, TriQuarterly, Words Without Borders, BOMB, and Electric Literature, among others. He currently works as an editor at Literary Hub and lives with his wife Tea Obreht in New York. Restless Souls is his first novel.